WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE RESISTERS WAR BUILDING AN- TIMILITARIST 2018 FUTURES FOR REPORT ANNUAL 95 YEARS! Building Antimilitarist ANTIMILITARIST PROGRAMS Zones of Forgotten Confl ict Futures for 95 Years! In June WRL kicked off our Forgotten Wars series with a teach-in on Kashmir, co-hosted by the South Asian Solidarity Initiative. WRL was honored to have Kashmiri scholar activists Hafsa Kanjwal and Mohamad Junaid as guest ast February the WRL National Committee met to consider speakers, as well as Amin Hussain of Decolonize This Place. Panelists addressed a packed house at our national headquarters where we had the how the work we took on in our 95th year could remain opportunity not only to learn about the history of India’s presence in Kashmir but Ltrue to WRL’s basic principles and goals while also meeting also to discuss Kashmiri resistance and calls for autonomy, as well as parallels the demands of the times we live in. Focusing on new and with Israel’s occupation of Palestine. continuing activities to end war and militarism, the Committee This December WRL was pleased to host our second panel with speakers from the International Committee on Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) committed to programs that build towards a less militarized and and A Call to Action on Puerto Rico. Panelists discussed how humanitarian more just world. disaster relief is used as a cover for increasing a U.S. military presence, and the worrying Specifi cally, WRL will continue to prioritize the leadership of individuals and communities in the United States who are Resisting Airwars or have been directly impacted by war and militarism. Also, Following WRL’s diaspora delegation to Greece in summer 2017, this year WRL in this moment of great polarization, we will more widely carried this work forward with a workshop at the Allied Media Conference where delegates shared their experiences and discussed ways to build on the work disseminate WRL’s political analyses, doing so through a the delegation began. The workshop, Liberate the Skies: Diaspora and the New new website currently under construction in partnership with Antimilitarism, was a solution-oriented session led by activists in U.S.-based diasporas of war and confl ict that focused on how organizers can incorporate Waging Nonviolence and a number of other movement groups. antimilitarist frameworks into their activism and art. With the AMC workshop And we will do more work with youth in our communities; this serving as a launch pad, the Resisting Airwars campaign will develop a mix commitment has already led to WRL’s upcoming and fi rst-ever of new political education materials on current wars and forms of militarism, will provide campaign ideas and resources for people organizing within their antimilitarist school taking place this spring of 2019 in Chicago. own communities, and will provide space for those living under airwars waged by various imperial powers to share their stories and build with one another. Revisiting WRL’s fundamental commitment to resist war in all Keep an eye out for information on WRL’s upcoming Resisting Airwars webinar, forms, the National Committee reiterated the importance that coming to a screen near you soon! WRL’s position against all war and militarism be situated within a WRL Antimilitarist School truly internationalist framework aligned with people’s movements WRL is holding our fi rst antimilitarist school for youth in spring 2019 in Chicago! for freedom and liberation. Thus, two new programs have been The antimilitarist school will focus on reaching multigenerational communities initiated: the Resisting Airwars campaign and the Forgotten engaged in community organizing or social justice work, but who do not necessarily encounter deeper discussions about war and antiwar organizing. Wars teach-in series, both of which focus on confl icts around the Curriculum focuses on understanding war by hearing from those who are living world that sustain the status quo of militarism. in it, mapping global connections in the war economy, and familiarizing students with antiwar organizing from the past and present. And, fi nally, in the midst of these very diffi cult times, we see the need to gather as a community, to celebrate the power we have Waging Nonviolence Partnership when we organize for change, to recognize where 95 years of This year we began an exciting new partnership with Waging Nonviolence and resistance to war has gotten us, and to build a vision for where the Fellowship of Reconciliation as part of an eff ort to provide a movement- wide, international online platform for peace, justice, and nonviolence news and we want to go. Thus, this past October, WRL members from views. The platform will provide additional space for WRL to present political far and wide gathered in New York City for a celebration of War analysis. The partnership has already begun to build out the website that will host this new collaboration. We look forward to sharing more developments Resisters League’s 95th Anniversary. As we carry the work soon! forward, and look to WRL’s future, we are so glad to have you with us. 2 3 WRL at the Border Militarization of Youth, JustSeeds, and Syracuse Cultural Workers to distribute This November several WRL staff and board members traveled to the border to our resources more widely and we promote all our materials through social attend the School of the America’s Watch Border Encuentro: Dismantle Border media, on our website, in our periodic mailings and emails, and at conferences Imperialism! Struggle, Create, Power to the People! With the goal of building and actions. And of course this year, we have some beautiful new materials: relationships with migrant justice activists and antimilitarists, staff shared No posters, tote bags, buttons, and more, many featuring our beautiful 95th SWAT Zone materials at the Encuentro and heard from activists at the border anniversary logo, designed by artist Mike Powers. who regularly strategize around the issue of border militarization within the broader contexts of U.S. imperialism and neoliberal state agendas. Out and About In March, WRL staff er Raul Ramos joined the Oscar Lopez Rivera Foundation NETWORKS and the Fellowship of Reconciliation’s delegation to Puerto Rico to meet homeland activists with the goal of learning about Boricua resilience on the War Tax Resistance island in the face of neocolonialism and climate catastrophe. In April, National Committee member Skanda Kadirgamar visited Juniata College and spoke In May, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) about WRL’s work on police militarization during the college’s observation of welcomed Lincoln Rice of Milwaukee onboard as its coordinator, after longtime Genocide Awareness week. WRL national offi ce staff participated in a New York coordinator Ruth Benn stepped down, though she remains a member of the City community teach-in on militarism hosted by the Poor People’s Campaign WRL war tax resistance task force. NWTRCC held its annual gathering the fi rst in April. Joanne Sheehan co-facilitated a day-long training before the Peace weekend of November in Cleveland, OH. As an affi liate, WRL has a close and and Justice Studies Association Conference in Philadelphia with Arnie Alpert active relationship with NWTRCC, providing fi nancial support and participating of the American Friends Service Committee and Shateeka Phillips. In October, in NWTRCC’s decision-making process as a member of its coordinating journalist Eleanor Bader visited WRL’s national offi ce for The Progressive to committee. interview staff for an article about WRL at 95 years old. She highlighted the organization’s long tradition of “bringing fresh-thinking and bold ideas to the War Resisters’ International broader movement for peace” and ability to “continue to fi nd ways to move the WRL continues as an affi liate of War Resisters’ International (WRI), needle on key issues of the day.” headquartered in London with 90 affi liated groups in 40 countries, and regularly participates in council meetings and decision making. WRI committees work Leadership Development with WRI’s two staff members on war profi teering, countering the militarization This year national offi ce staff were thrilled to have Freeman Intern, Dennise of youth, and supporting conscientious objectors around the world. We look Hernandez, and Bilezikian Intern, Mori Anderson Hitchcock, join the staff in the forward to the next International Assembly Meeting for WRI, which will be held spring and fall, respectively. Dennise and Mori both worked on planning and in Bogota, Colombia in May 2019. preparations leading up to WRL’s 95th Anniversary Celebration. Nonviolent Direct Action Training Staff Transitions WRL continued networking with trainers from movements around the country This September we welcomed Yuni Chang and Tory Smith into WRL’s staff and planned a gathering for nonviolent action trainers, held in California collective in our national offi ce. Yuni and Tory bring past experience and new last April. WRL trainers facilitated nonviolent trainings for the Poor People’s vision to WRL’s antimilitarist program as the National Field Organizer and Campaign. Joanne Sheehan and Shateeka Phillips in the New England National Campaigner, respectively. It was with a mixture of pride and sadness Regional offi ce are working on a video, A History of Nonviolent Direct Action that we watched Ali Issa move on from WRL after seven years as the national Trainers, that begins with the Harlem Ashram in 1940. Keep an eye out for the fi eld organizer, and Tara Tabassi after four years as WRL’s national organizer. video, which will be available on the WRL website in early 2019. Ali is now organizing with the New Economy Project while Tara accepted the prestigious Kairos Fellowship and is now working as a digital organizer with Win NATIONAL OFFICE Without War.